La Paz County hires consultant to help manage finances
La Paz County is leaning on outside finance help as auditors again flagged reporting problems and the county keeps building its next budget.
La Paz County’s decision to hire a finance consultant signals that county leaders in Parker are trying to strengthen financial management while audits and budget planning continue to demand attention. The county’s Finance Department says it serves departments, other agencies and taxpayers as a central hub of county government.
The Arizona Auditor General’s report for the year ended June 30, 2024 said La Paz County’s fiscal-year-2024 financial information was reliable except for certain capital assets, supplies inventory in the Road Fund and Golf Course Fund, and charges-for-services revenue in the Golf Course Fund and Parks Fund. Auditors also reported deficiencies and noncompliance over financial reporting, extending a pattern that had already appeared in the county’s fiscal year 2022 audit highlights.
Those findings land in the middle of a budget cycle that is already moving forward. La Paz County adopted its Fiscal Year 2023-2024 budget on Aug. 10, 2023, and the county also has a Fiscal Year 2026 tentative budget posted online. If the consultant is being used to help with budgeting or long-range planning, that work could influence how county leaders weigh spending on roads, public safety, courts, health services and general administration.
La Paz County is also still hiring inside the same department. A county job posting shows an opening for an accountant in the Finance Department with an annual salary range of $49,046 to $72,592, suggesting the county is balancing outside expertise with day-to-day staffing needs. The Finance Department’s stated role as a central hub for departments, agencies and taxpayers makes it one of the county’s most sensitive operations when reporting or control problems surface.
The Board of Supervisors handles those decisions in public at 1108 Joshua Ave. in Parker, where county government is based. The board includes Duce Minor, David Plunkett and Holly Irwin, with Stephanie McDowell serving as county administrator and Laurie Thornbury as clerk of the board. Any consultant-driven changes to accounting procedures, audit preparation, spending controls or cash management would move through that governing structure before they show up in county services and tax decisions.
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